Container handling transport vehicles of various types are known for transporting different types of freight containers on existing public roads. However, these transport vehicles and containers have to abide to government regulations when traveling on such public roads. Accordingly, containers are manufactured with strict design regulations as to size. ISO certified containers are also fabricated with specific attachments whereby to be handled and secured during transport, whether by land, sea or air. Handling equipment is also designed to engage these attachments for secure handling and transportation. The trailer design of the present invention is particularly adapted to handle such ISO certified containers which can be rested directly on a ground surface and difficult to access location. Accordingly, there is no requirement to provide elevated frames to support the container elevated for transfer onto conventional trailers such as described for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,417,540, 6,155,770, 6,532,398 and others.
Transporters for picking up containers lying on ground and transferring them on a transport vehicle support frame are also known. A most common type are those open top end containers in which refuse from building sites are deposited and later picked up by pulling the container on a pivoted support frame by a winch and cable, the container is then positively engaged for transport to a refuse disposal site. Other vehicles are also known to handle specific size shipping containers resting on ground, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,844. Trailer transporters are also known to handle shipping containers resting on ground. U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,413 describes a trailer having adjustable side rails and lift cylinders to load a container onto the side rails for transportation. As well, U.S. Application 2004/0223835 published on Nov. 11, 2004, describes a trailer having a U-shaped frame and lifting members to lift a container from a ground surface for transportation. The U-shaped frame is provided with a rear gate. The present invention is concerned with a trailer container transporter of the general type as described in these later two patents referred to.
Briefly, summarizing some of the disadvantages of prior art container road transporters, they are expensive to fabricate, bulky, time consuming to load and unload, require at least two operators, some need hoist or ground support equipment and some cannot operate on rough road conditions or maneuver to pick up containers in restricted spaces and containers resting directly on the ground without supports. Some of the trailer type transporters also do not provide adequate shock damping and can cause damage to the contents of the container during transport on rough roads.